Latest / Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast / Being Human

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Being Human · Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast

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Welcome to the Buddhisticious Tour Berlin podcast.
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Here we share talks and reflections from our Buddhist
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centre in Berlin, exploring themes such as meditation,
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ethics and the path of awakening in everyday life.
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We are part of the Sri Ratna Buddhist community and our talks
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are offered freely in a spirit of generosity.
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We hope this episode supports your practice and your life.
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So, yeah, I was talking to Dan Masar yesterday about a theme to
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to share. And I think when you travel, as
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I have done, coming here for the first time, you're really taking
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in the whole experience of what it is to be in another country,
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in another. I've been to Germany before, but
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not to this part of Germany. And, you know, just, you're just
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taking in all, the, all the sights and sounds.
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And this is different and that's different and this is similar
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and that's similar. And of course, it's a special
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occasion as well, the, the bank holiday and all, the, all the
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events. So I felt suddenly steeped in a
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lot of history because it's a whole history to to those
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events, but I also felt steeped in people gathering, gathering,
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coming together, connecting in different ways.
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And, and also the sun was out. So all the kind of joy and the
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ease somehow of that. And so I think, you know, we
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were talking about what theme and it was like, well, this is
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the human life, isn't it? The sort of the struggle of the
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past, you know, and, and and and the desire for progress in a
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certain way, as as was demonstrated in the in the
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events yesterday, but also just the need and the desire to be
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with others and to be seen and to connect and to reflect half
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space as all of that I thought was all, all, all that was there
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yesterday. So, yeah, being human is the
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theme that I'm going to be sharing.
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And I was thinking, as I was sitting there meditating today,
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I was thinking, gosh, I'm, I'm in Berlin about to give a talk.
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I'd, you know, if I'd have, you'd have said that to me years
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ago. I'd have been like me, you know,
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doing something like that. It wouldn't have.
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Yeah. It wouldn't have crossed my
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mind, really. And I thought I've really become
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a Buddhist on some consciously by accident, complete accident,
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and yet unconsciously looking back, almost by design.
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So really interesting juxtaposition there.
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I say completely by accident because when I got involved, you
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know, 30 plus years ago, I didn't, well, I didn't know any
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Buddhist Buddhism wasn't talked about at all.
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Meditation wasn't a fit, wasn't really a thing in my circles.
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The only person who I knew meditated was my cousin.
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I think I shouldn't do that. Meditated.
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I mean, I shouldn't do that. I shouldn't do that.
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My cousin in the Caribbean who's Rastafarian.
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So he'd go up in the hills with his, you know, smoke and he'd be
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meditating. And it was for him.
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I mean, it was he was meditating, he was reflecting,
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and then he'd come back down to the village and then share all
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his wisdom, you know, that he. So he was the only person I knew
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who had any kind of contemplative practice, but it
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was mixed up with a few other things, you know, So I with him
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particularly, that's his personality.
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I was like, you know, yeah. So, so.
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So I had to sort of like, he was wise, but you also had to kind
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of like, look out. Not sure what he was always
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doing, you know? So that's the only person.
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Are you? Every Otherwise you would say
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that meditation was a fringe activity, something that you'd
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have to be pretty far out to do. Even being a vegetarian in those
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days was like far out, you know, I guess it's the equivalent
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these days of living off grid. Yeah.
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With no electricity. No.
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To me, it was that kind of thing.
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And I, if you'd have asked me at the time, you know, am I going
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to meditate? Am I going to be a Buddhist?
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I'd have been like, why would I do that?
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You know, I've got lots of things I want to do in my life.
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The world needs change. And yeah, I need to change
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myself as well. But really, I've got to make a
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difference in the world. That was a real strong urge for
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me. And the other strong urge, I
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guess was I've got to just sort my life out.
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I've got to get work, you know, have a house.
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I've just got to do all those things and try to do them well.
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So those are those are the things that were in my mind.
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How do I do, I guess you say ordinary life.
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Well, and then how do I make a difference?
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You know, So those that was in my mind and really I tell this
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story a lot because it was my sort of catalyst story, because
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I was locked into those two kind of themes, personal happiness,
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you could say, and change the societal change.
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But the the thing that happened to me was that I, you know, and
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I don't know, I was thinking about this when I was sitting
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there today. If this wouldn't happen, would I
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still have started meditating or becoming a Buddhist?
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And I think maybe I would have done.
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I probably would have done, but it might have just taken me
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longer then you know, it might have taken me longer.
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It might take a few more incidents, a few more events, a
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few more challenges for me to get myself out of this binary,
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this or that or this and that. So really it was, I was on a
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plane, I was travelling back from Philippines where I've been
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visiting a friend. It's been a difficult trip
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actually. So I was really relieved to be
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coming back to the UK. It's an 18 hour flight.
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And somewhere in the middle of the flight the plane went into
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difficulty. And you, you know, you knew that
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because the, the, the, you could obviously feel you were
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dropping, we were dropping lots of feet.
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And then the staff started really, you know, getting
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anxious shout. Well, they looked anxious to me.
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They were shouting. I asked, you know, to, to keep
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quiet because the people started crying.
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People started, oh, they had lots of these, you know, on
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board. It was a very Catholic country,
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the Philippines. So people were praying, children
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were crying. You know, it was just became, it
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started a little in a little bit.
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And then it became the practically the whole plane.
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And I just was like, first, it's physically very uncomfortable,
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you know, you're, you know, being, you know, in that kind of
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situation. But I was just like, Oh my God,
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this, this, I'm too young to to have this experience.
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I'm too young to die for one. And and also I was looking
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around at everybody thinking, well, because I was freaking
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out. I could feel it.
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I wasn't, you know, shouting. I wasn't doing all of that, but
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internally that's what was going on.
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I could see my hands were on the on the, on the armrest and they
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were just like, you know, clenching like this.
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And I could barely breathe. And I just thought looking
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around for someone to, to help me, but everyone was in their
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own drama. Everyone was in their own panic.
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And I was like, and I realized then I didn't have any
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resources, internal resources to deal with that situation.
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I did think, well, this is the moment to call on God, but I'd
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given up God. So I was like, shall I call on
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him anyway? What should I do?
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Baby? It's OK.
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But I, I didn't, I kind of thought, no, I won't do that
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now. And it was just, it just struck
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me that I didn't have another response.
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So anyway, the thing that happened was I was just in this
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and then suddenly I turned to the window and there was this
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incredible scene. It was, it was, I call it a like
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a mystical sky because I was met with a sky that I'd never seen
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before, never seen since. It had all these, all the
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colours almost of the rainbow purples and oranges and gold.
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And, and then there was this Blues and indigos and, and there
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was this expanse of black as well and a huge star.
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And I just gazed at this scene. I don't even know for how long I
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was I was looking at all I know was that I just, the plain
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experience disappeared from my consciousness.
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And I was almost like with that. And eventually I turned back to
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the plane. It was all still happening.
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The drama was still unfolding, shouting, crying, prayers, but I
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noticed that my being was I was in a completely different state
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of awareness, state of consciousness.
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I was relaxed, I could feel my breath, my hands were no longer
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gripping the armrest and I just was in this kind of state of
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clarity. I say state of clarity as in
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there was nothing much in my mind.
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I wasn't thinking, Oh my God, what's going to happen?
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I just wasn't thinking of the past.
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I wasn't going to the future. I was just here with the
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experience of being. And out of this space emerged a
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couple of questions. And these questions are still
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the questions that are guiding my life.
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And the the first question was how do I live so that when I
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die, I can die without regret? And the second question was how
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do I love? And those questions emerged and
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I promised myself that if the plane landed, I would go in
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answer of those questions. I knew.
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I thought if I, I thought, I know someone's worked it out.
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I can't be the only one to have thought these questions.
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Someone has already got the answer.
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That's me being efficient, right?
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Because I also did think if I have to literally find it out
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from scratch, it's going to take forever.
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And I knew this just to having the experience of the plane.
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I thought, I don't know how how life's going to pan out.
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I don't know how long I got. So if this plane lands, I'm
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going to go and find the answer to I'm going to find someone
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who's already worked some of this out.
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So that was the beginning of my search, really my conscious
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search. I'd have been before that.
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I've been doing quite a bit of personal development, I would
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say, you know, like journal writing and trying to just
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figure out my past and my family dynamics, all those.
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I've been doing that kind of work, like just psychological
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work, you know, and usually when you know things, difficult
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things happened, I was like, why am I, why am I feeling upset and
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then trying to kind of work it out?
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So I've been doing that, but this was a different kind of
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search. Now, one of my criteria I think
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was I'm going to go and search. I'm going to be, I need to be
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completely open to what I find, but I'm not going to do anything
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that's weird. I'm not going to do anything
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that's going to take me away from normal life.
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I really didn't want that. It was really strong actually
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that, you know, and I went, so I started going to book shops and
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seeing all the books, you know, the spiritual books because I
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was familiar with Christianity. So I knew that.
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But then I was looking for something else, something that I
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guess talked about the mind, talked about fear, you know,
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talked about what fulfilment is. You know, I just, there were
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other questions I had. So I'd go to the spiritual books
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and there'd be all kinds of books that I just, I just don't
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relate, you know, there'd be people in white looking up like,
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you know, you know, and I just thought, no, that's not it.
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So I really didn't know where to look.
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And we didn't have, it was the days of we didn't have the
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Internet. Obviously.
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Now with the Internet, I could have typed in all kinds of
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things and would have got a plethora.
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I would have got so many different responses to what I
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would have typed in, you know, But I these, I was in the days
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where you had to literally go and find somebody or find a book
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to get the answer. So it was by chance.
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And This is why I say it was accidental because I just
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happened to be in my local library in on top.
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I was standing at the top of these really long stairway and I
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was talking to a friend and saying to a friend, I'm really,
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I feel like I can't quite do life in the way I did before
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because I've got these questions.
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And I was trying to explain to her all my experience that I'd
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come back with and she was just a bit like looking at me going,
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oh, nevermind, just get on with it.
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And I just thought, I can't quite, I can and I can't.
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So I was, I was frustrated actually with the communication
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I was having. She was really trying to help,
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but I just, we weren't meeting each other.
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And anyway, we're in this middle of this thing.
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And I was, and I then was looking at the stairway because
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it was a really busy stairway, lots of people walking up and
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down. And I just saw this guy walking
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up the stairs and he was walking so slowly, like he wasn't going
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nowhere. And I thought it was so
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different to everybody else because the people were chatting
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to each other and running up the stairs.
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And he was just like, and I thought, what's he doing, you
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know? Then I would chat to my friend
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and I'd look again and he was still walking, chatted to her.
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I went, Christ, what's he doing? And then finally he made his way
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to the top of the stairs, came to where I was standing and
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there was a table there. And he put some leaflets on the
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table and I watched him walk back down the stairs the same
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way just like. And I then looked at the
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leaflets and it said Creative Communication Workshop, Bristol
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Buddhist Centre. So I just ignored the Buddhist
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bit and I thought creative communication, that's what I
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need. I need to know how to
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communicate my experience so at least I can then get some
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answers. So I went along to it and it was
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a house. He knocked at the door and I was
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really nervous. I was just like, I don't know
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what I'm going to find behind this door.
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You know, they're probably going to have, you know, long beards
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and sandals and, you know, knocked at the door and Yep,
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long beard sandals. You know, I wasn't wrong, but
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very friendly, very friendly. Came in, started the mindfulness
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of breathing, which is what we've done today.
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I couldn't do the practice. At least my mind was everywhere.
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And I just, I was just so interested that gosh, it's so
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simple, this practice and I can't really do it.
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So what's going on anyway? I had many other experiences
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beyond that. I did walk away from that day
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with a book, with two books. One was called Healing Into Life
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and Death, which was written by a man who worked in a Hospice.
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And he was talking about, you know, meeting people when
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they're really engaging with people, when their final, their
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final, their final times, their final days and all that emerges.
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He talked about the people who are just open to the experience.
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And even if their bodies in pain, they are, they're loved,
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they're able to love, they're able to be with their
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experience. They're sharing their
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experience. It was very beautiful.
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But he also talked about those who are angry and struggling and
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pushing others away. And the whole book was around,
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well, how do you how do you live so that when those moments come,
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you can be fully with it, you know, and, and not go with the
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so it really answered. It really was pointed to the
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question I had. And then the other one was a
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Buddhist book, a bit written by Sangarachita, who founded true
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Abner, this movement. And he was just saying, this is
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really super helpful for me because he said, actually
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everybody has experiences whereby they, if you like, their
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level of consciousness raises from the ordinary to something,
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you know, extraordinary or something out of the ordinary.
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You can have that in nature. You can have that listening to a
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piece of music. You can have that, you know, a
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child's born and you're holding a baby for the first time.
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Any pivotal experience you have can take you out of the
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ordinary, out of the everyday. I've got to do this, I've got to
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do that, and I've got this is next past present, you know,
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past future takes you out of that.
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And suddenly you're stepping back from life, looking at it
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from a different perspective, a different vantage point, and
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you're asking yourself much more profound questions than you
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normally do, he said. That is a lot of people's
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experience, however, and this is what was really helpful for me.
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So the, the the in the way the Buddhist path from is having
19:20
those experience that vision. If you like having a vision and
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then not just allowing it to fade, not just going, oh, well,
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that was interesting, wasn't it? And going back to every day is
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like having, developing, cultivating the rest of your
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life, your work, your communication, your
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relationships, the way you are yourself so that it meets that
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vision in a way, the vision you have, that visionary experience,
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and then that visionary experience informs the rest of
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your life so that the rest of your life eventually becomes one
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with that vision. Does that make sense?
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I thought that's it, that's it. Because I knew myself and I knew
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that I'd had this big experience and I also knew that I had to
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sort my life out. And I also thought I could get
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very busy and submerged just in that because it's quite
20:27
compelling, you know, work and success and, you know, just
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it's, it takes a lot of energy. So I thought that just could, I
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could just put myself fully in that, but I wouldn't be
20:41
answering these bigger questions and I wouldn't see what does
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this, what does it look like to love in all the different areas
20:50
of my life, not just with a partner, with my family or close
20:54
friends. What does love look like at
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work? What does love look like, you
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know, with my neighbors, you know, what does it look like in
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in my relationship myself, how I am just walking down the street,
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you know, that's a bigger question.
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So, OK, that's, that was me really kind of thinking, OK, the
21:15
Buddhist path, I'm going to, I'm going to try it, you know, went
21:18
on my first retreat and really the rest is history.
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But I say, I say, you know, I'm sort of I'm Buddhist by
21:26
accident. And I've explained why.
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It just was a chance event that took me there.
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But also by design in a sense as well.
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Because when I did discover the Buddha, even though you know,
21:42
his story, and even though the story of the Buddha is, you
21:46
know, he lived 2500 years ago, he was Asian, he was a man, he
21:54
was rich, he had his life set out.
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It's very different to me. Basically, I was like, OK,
22:03
that's not my life. You know, that was not the life
22:06
I grew up in. I grew up in the East London,
22:09
very poor family, different, different culture, just
22:15
everything, every, every level was different.
22:18
And yet his story, when I heard his story, I thought, Oh my God,
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that's I totally relate to his story.
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And I think the relationship to the Buddha story obviously
22:31
evolved over time, but the immediate impression was I can
22:36
learn from this. It's almost like a map.
22:38
Well, for me, it was like a map of like a template.
22:43
Almost. Yeah.
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That I could then put my own life on.
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That's kind of how I saw it. How many of you know the Buddha
22:53
story? Well, OK, a few of you.
22:58
But I'll. OK, I'll share.
22:59
I'll share my version of it, which is, you know, Yeah.
23:04
He's he's he's living in a palace with his father, his
23:09
wife, his child. He knows what he's going to do
23:12
for his life. He's just going to follow in his
23:14
father's footsteps. His father's a great ruler, you
23:18
know, He has everything he needs, basically.
23:21
Apparently, if it was cold, they'd go to 1 palace that kept
23:26
you warm. And if it was, you know, warm,
23:29
they'd go to, you know, they had different palaces for different
23:30
weathers. That's kind of so designing your
23:33
life so that every bit of it works.
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That's how I thought him. So he's living this life.
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Everything's fine until really one day he just looks around at
23:48
the whole scene of his life and he just asked himself, is this
23:55
it then? Should I just be doing this?
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It's a very simple question, isn't it?
24:04
It's a very simple question, but it's actually a very profound
24:08
one. And I've had moments in my life.
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I had a moment in my life and I was AI, was a practising
24:15
Buddhist, so this is me practising.
24:18
But I had a moment in my life where I was where it went on
24:21
holiday, came back. I spent a lot of time looking at
24:25
the blue sky on holiday and being in the sea.
24:28
So I came back very open and I when I came back, before I
24:34
opened my front door, I was getting nervous.
24:38
I was like, oh God, still cool on God obviously every now and
24:42
again. But anyway, I was like, oh, and
24:46
I thought, why am I nervous? What's going on?
24:49
And I just remembered because I had this wonderful experience,
24:53
just very spacious and calm. And I just opened the front door
24:57
and look to my, you know, like my house.
25:00
And I thought, I don't know if I want to step over this threshold
25:05
because me stepping over this threshold is me stepping back
25:07
into the life I left before holiday.
25:10
And that was not a life I want to live right now.
25:13
It was too busy. I had too many demands.
25:17
I had, you know, various things going on.
25:18
And I thought, that's another moment of is this it?
25:27
Is this the life I want? So the Buddha has that
25:37
experience. He's not called the Buddha, He's
25:38
called Sedartha. Sedartha, that was his name.
25:45
He has that experience. And he basically decides to go
25:49
out to the palace and just look, have a good look around.
25:58
And as I was saying, you never know what's going to happen.
26:05
Anything can happen at any time. And you've experienced that me
26:09
having a little medical throat emergency there.
26:14
And it was actually the thing around, you know, how do I live
26:21
so that when I die, I can die without regret.
26:24
And I said it's still with me as a question.
26:26
And the Buddha, in a way, that's what happened with him.
26:30
He, he basically went out the palace.
26:34
And the story is that he'd never seen these things before.
26:38
The reality is that he probably had seen them but hadn't taken
26:42
them in. They hadn't penetrated his
26:46
consciousness as connected to him.
26:50
So he saw an old person for the first time, it says.
26:56
And he looked at that old person with his attendant and said to
27:00
his attendant, you know, the old is kind of like, you know, your
27:03
old person, not your not your vigorous old person who's just
27:07
run a marathon, but like the old person who's bent over and
27:11
struggling. And he says, what's up with
27:14
them? And he says, oh, they're old.
27:16
You might be old one day too. If you live long, you'll be like
27:19
that. And I, the Buddha's full of
27:23
youth and vitality and health, and he really sees it as his
27:31
destiny. He doesn't go, yeah, I don't
27:35
think that's going to happen to me.
27:36
I'm not. I'm not going to be that kind of
27:37
old person. He does.
27:38
He really sees it as, yes, he sees the truth in it, but even
27:44
though he can't relate to it at all, he can.
27:47
He recognizes that, yes, the bodies change and you've no
27:51
control really of exactly how the body's going to change.
27:57
So he goes back quite shaken up. He goes out again, and then he
28:00
sees a sick person and same thing.
28:05
What's up with them? Oh, they're sick and you have a
28:08
body. You're going to be sick.
28:10
It's what it is to be human. So that shakes him up.
28:15
He goes out again. Who does he see?
28:18
The final one, the death, the end, which in India, many parts
28:27
of the world, you literally see the dead body walking through
28:30
the streets. It's not like, you know, in a
28:32
coffin, so lifeless. And he says, yeah, that's going
28:38
to happen to you, too. Everything that's born,
28:41
everything that lives, everything will die so that he
28:49
can't go back to his everyday life in the way that he has.
28:52
He just can't. Bit like my experience coming
28:55
back from the plane, I couldn't quite settle back in and either
28:59
me over this threshold, you know, going back into my life as
29:02
a Buddhist, I was like, I can't quite settle back in to the life
29:07
I left because I've seen something different.
29:10
My perspective has changed something bigger that I've got a
29:15
bigger question that's opened up.
29:18
So he goes out for the final time and he sees a wandering in
29:24
a hustle and bustle of the of the streets.
29:26
He sees this person walking very serenely like this, like the guy
29:32
on the stairs. Yeah, so serenely.
29:36
And it draws his attention. He's carrying a bowl, an empty
29:40
bowl. And he says to his attendant,
29:43
well, who's he? What's he doing?
29:44
He goes, oh, he's seeking the truth.
29:47
He's a truth seeker and that's it.
29:50
He's like, he knows that's what he's going to do.
29:52
So he goes on his quest. He leaves everything behind,
29:56
which is a huge thing, you know, wife, child, very controversial
30:02
still even today. But I think, I think what we
30:07
probably don't see is that he understood that he didn't have
30:12
the answer and the answer was fundamental.
30:16
It's like if he could find the answer, it would change the way
30:19
he lived and not just for himself.
30:23
And I think he really saw that. But he goes, well, no one had
30:26
the answer. A bit like with me and my friend
30:28
like going can you? And she's like, oh, just don't
30:30
worry about it. You know, it's like if you find
30:34
the answer, you share it. If you find a way of being that
30:39
works, you share it. So that's really, I think really
30:43
motivated his quest. So he goes off six years of, of,
30:47
of, of learning from others, being by himself, gathering
30:53
friends, you know, on the path, wanting to find out.
30:55
He finally sits down and, and says and, and is ready to
31:00
breakthrough into truth. And that's his enlightenment
31:04
experience. So enlightenment as in, I mean,
31:07
there's different ways to just say, talk about enlightenment,
31:09
but it's the absence of greed, hatred and ignorance.
31:13
They say also really what it is, is like you're entering a
31:17
different types of consciousness, a different level
31:21
type even even, yeah, type of consciousness.
31:23
I would say you're not in your ordinary mind anymore.
31:29
The mind that struggles and worries and in the past and the
31:32
future. And you know that mind that we
31:35
all know, the habitual mind, you're not, that mind doesn't
31:38
have a hold anymore. You're in a mind that is loving.
31:45
That is what that's aligned to the truth.
31:49
And in a way that's ultimate human fulfilment.
31:54
Because when I say aligned to the truth, well, 11 truth is
31:58
that things change. That's a very basic Buddhist
32:01
teaching. It's essential, I should say
32:03
essential Buddhist teaching. Everything is in the process of
32:06
change. Everything sort of we can see
32:09
that we can like step back and go, yeah, that's probably true.
32:12
My plant does this and my I do that and you know, that person
32:15
change a bit there. And this, this world event has
32:17
changed. You know, you can see it on all
32:19
the different levels of experience that there's change,
32:22
but we don't live like that. That's that's where the problems
32:28
then happen. And and we also want to fix
32:32
things. This is the way things should
32:34
be. Yeah.
32:36
Like this, like the way I think that.
32:38
And then, of course, somebody else has got their own version
32:42
and, you know, it's, it's fixed around that.
32:45
And if they're warring, if they're countries and leaders,
32:49
you end up in war because both are fixed or one's very fixed
32:56
and imposing it on the other. Yeah.
33:00
Or both. So in a way, this is a very
33:03
essential truth that everything is in the process of change.
33:06
So how do we live with that truth?
33:09
When you're in this enlightened consciousness, you're aligned to
33:13
that truth. So you're not working it out,
33:17
trying to figure it out, not you're not pushing it away.
33:21
You are in flow, you know, with it.
33:24
You're also, if you're really align to that truth that
33:29
everything is in the process of change.
33:31
Well, I'm in the process of change now.
33:32
You're in the process of change. This whole building, even even
33:37
though it seems so fixed, is in the process of change.
33:40
Yeah. How do we even come to be?
33:47
We don't relate to ourselves as, you know, two years old, eight
33:51
months old. Yeah, we probably can't relate
33:54
to ourselves as 90 years old. Yeah.
33:57
But there's a process of change that's been going on.
34:05
So therefore, what is true, you know, what is true about me,
34:12
What's true about you? And where do I end and you
34:18
begin? Yeah, I've.
34:21
I've had a child and it was fascinating for me because I was
34:25
just like, where did he come from?
34:29
I mean, like you can work out the, the mechanics.
34:35
But really when he arrived, I was like, Oh my, it was just a
34:39
miracle. And even now when I look at
34:44
where he is now, he's, you know, he's completely different from
34:48
where he was when he was born. And we're, and we're very
34:52
different, me and my son. And we're also so connected.
35:01
We're not as separate as we think we are.
35:05
That's the kind of nutshell of this.
35:07
We're not as separate as we think we are.
35:10
And that's why I think when we're, you know, being human is
35:14
like this great opportunity to learn to learn what our own mind
35:18
is, to learn what ordinary consciousness is, which we're in
35:23
a lot of the time, most of the time to learn what it takes to
35:27
step out of ordinary consciousness, elevate our
35:29
consciousness and then see what life is really like.
35:34
What is human life really like when we're not in the survival
35:42
to getting things done? What I know from my own
35:46
experience is life is a lot bigger.
35:51
It's a lot more beautiful, it's a lot more mysterious.
35:55
And the more I'm in that expansive state, the more I feel
35:59
connected to others more I actually see that I'm not
36:01
separate from others because I'm like, yeah, I'm going to.
36:05
I'm going through the similar experiences as you are in terms
36:08
of having a body, in terms of trying to work things out, in
36:11
terms of the, the way the mind works.
36:15
You know, when we do the other practice that we do here, the
36:17
metabath and the practice, which is a practice of loving
36:20
kindness. When we we're cultivating loving
36:24
kindness for yourself, for a friend, for that someone you
36:29
don't know, someone you don't like, and then all beings
36:35
everywhere. I love that practice.
36:37
I love introducing that practice and often every so every now and
36:41
then you get somebody in the room goes well, I love
36:43
everybody. I don't have anyone I put in
36:46
that. So I love everyone, you know,
36:49
and great. We also know, but there's
36:54
probably a lot, a bit more investigation to happen because
37:00
when we scratch the surface of our ordinary mind, we see the
37:06
hatred, we see the kind of greed, the craving, you know, we
37:13
see the kind of, oh, I just don't want to know.
37:15
Just don't, don't, don't tell me anything.
37:17
I don't want to know. I just want to get on.
37:18
We see that ignorance and when you see it and you experience
37:24
it, actually I just think it's a great opportunity.
37:28
It's not like, Oh no, Oh no, I've got a bit of craving.
37:32
I've got a bit. No, it's like, actually it's
37:35
awareness. It's your consciousness is
37:37
rising at that point because you're seeing your ordinary
37:42
mind. And when you see your ordinary
37:44
mind, you're, you're actually doing is stepping back from your
37:46
experience and having perspective.
37:49
And then of course, one of the things, one of the key things
37:52
about being human is that we can be aware that we're aware you're
37:59
not just we don't have to just be in the experience.
38:02
We can step back and be aware of awareness, and then when you're
38:07
aware of awareness, another key thing about being human is that
38:12
you can then choose how to respond to what you experience.
38:20
You don't just have to just go along with it.
38:23
Oh, OK. I experienced coming back to my
38:26
house and going, OK, unpleasant experience stepping back into
38:32
the life. I created something unpleasant
38:36
about it. So I'm going to choose what I do
38:40
with that. But I could have gone, oh,
38:44
that's I could have gone really down on myself and gone.
38:46
You made some poor choices along the way.
38:49
I could have definitely done that.
38:50
But actually I chose to kind of be in into the question what
38:55
needs to happen here? So that's a creative response.
39:00
So we aware that we're we can be aware that we're aware, we can
39:05
choose our response. We have free will and then we
39:09
can create something different. And when we create something
39:14
different, if you have a vision like I did with that sky, or
39:19
like I did when, you know, I'm really inspired, I was very
39:25
inspired by Martin Luther King. He was my first sort of teacher,
39:27
if you like, beyond my my mother.
39:32
When I'm inspired, I think, OK, how do I live with that vision?
39:36
How do I live that? I feel united with others.
39:40
But when I'm upset, I don't push others away and I don't negate
39:44
myself. What does that look like for me?
39:49
That's how you change the world. More people do that.
39:56
The world is different, and I feel more of us need to be able
40:00
to, you know, stand. Be prepared if you like to go on
40:05
that kind of journey. It's an inward journey, but it's
40:08
an inward journey that actually manifests outwards.
40:12
You know, it's an inward journey to begin with, where you could
40:17
get to know your being, as it were.
40:21
But then it's a journey that actually takes you out because
40:24
you're then seeing, oh, what I go through, others go through,
40:29
and I am actually deeply connected to others.
40:34
How does that look? I'm going to end with a quote.
40:45
I had a few actually, but let me end with.
40:53
Yeah, and with that, Martin Luther King, since I've
40:59
mentioned him and he says in a sense, all life is interrelated.
41:10
All men or people are caught in an inescapable network of
41:15
mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny.
41:24
Whatever effects one directly effects all indirectly.
41:31
I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought
41:35
to be, and you cannot be what you ought to be until I and what
41:40
I ought to be. This is the interrelated
41:43
structure of reality. And then my teacher says, he
41:51
says this is the one. He says this is one of the
41:53
reasons why I'm a Buddhist. This is my teacher Sangarajtan.
41:58
He says, I believe that humanity is basically 1.
42:02
I believe that it's possible for any human being to communicate
42:07
with any other human being, to feel for any other human being,
42:13
to be friends with any other human being.
42:18
This is what I truly, deeply believe.
42:21
The belief is part of my own experience.
42:25
It is part of my own life. It is part of me.
42:30
I cannot live without this belief and I would rather die
42:36
than give it up. Thank you for listening.
42:51
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